In this episode called The Package, the Sideways world reveals some surprises involving our favorite Korean couple Jin and Sun.

Sideways – Off Island

We find out that Jin brought the watch and the money onto the plane to pay off the guy who was hired to kill him, namely Martin Keamy. Mr. Paik, Suns’s father was apparently not too happy to find out that the bodyguard he hired to protect his daughter had fallen in love with her. From previous episodes we know that Sun’s parents wanted her to marry a rich and influential person (like Jae Lee), so whether Jin is a fisherman or a bodyguard isn’t going to make them happy. Of course killing her suitor is just possibly a little bit extreme…. Anyway while Jin is guarding Sun’s body they get caught in the same hotel room together after Sun pulls the moves on Jin by revealing what’s beneath the button’s he told her to button on the plane. They tell Keamy that the money they brought was taken by customs but they can use Sun’s secret bank account to pay him. This account was part of her plan to run away with Jin to elope. This is the opposite of what happened in Season 1 when she tried to escape her husband by learning English and then flying to America without him.

Since the couple only speaks Korean, Keamy brings in an interpreter, our favorite “energizer bunny” Mikhail who speaks like 9 different languages. He goes with Sun to the bank where they tell her the secret funds have been transferred out her account by none other than her father. Obviously he knows about them and now Sun knows it too. Sun has lied to her father for many years (of course if your father shows his displeasure by killing people you might lie too). When they get to the restaurant where they have taken Jin they find a bunch a dead bodies which is the same scene we saw in Sundown when Sayid killed them. This continues on from the end of that episode. Sayid takes pity on Jin and gives him box cutters to untie himself. Jin then points a gun at Mikael who accidently shoots Sun. Jin kills Mikhail and finds Sun shot where she reveals that she is pregnant.

On Island

On the island we find out “who” not “what” the package is. But first… Sun goes back to her garden which she planted three years ago. Everything there is dead (almost). Jack tries to convince her that her candidacy is just as important as finding Jin. She responds by getting angry and tells him to shove off. A few minutes later Locke comes to get her to take her back to Jin. She knows he really is Smokey in disguise and runs away hitting her head on a tree. Locke goes back to his camp to find everyone tranquilized. The nerd herd from the sub came and got Jin because he was leaving the camp. Widmore wanted to get him but they acted sooner than planned by a few days. Jin gets taken to Hydra island where he is put in Room 23. Zoe (aka Tina Fey) tells him that room was where Dharma did subliminal message experiments. Jin’s name is also on a map (created by Radzinsky most likely) showing where the pockets of electromagnetism is located on the island. Jin wants to be taken to Widmore (he probably knows Widmore is the leader because Sawyer told him). Widmore shows him pictures of his daughter Ji Yeon with his wife Sun from her camera. Jin has never met her because Sun left the island before she was born. Widmore seems very sincere and probably can be trusted now. He even meets with SmokeLocke and it appears he is aware that Locke is Smokey. Widmore tells Jin that SmokeLocke must not leave the island, or everyone will “cease to exist” in the world. He tells Zoe to take the package to the infirmary. On the way there Sayid (who is on a recon mission for Locke) sees that the package is Desmond, who is still woozy from drugs they gave him for the sub ride. Sun agrees to help Jack find Jin so they can leave the island together.

Things I noticed:

The sideways world was opposite of what happened in the first season for Sun. This time she wanted to run away with Jin, not run away from him. This time she was pregnant and not trying to be that way. One thing hasn’t changed, Mr. Paik is still up to no good. Also Sun looks into the mirror like all of our characters during the flashsideways. She doesn’t seem too happy with what she sees.

Mikhail is back and he shot in the eye by Jin. He seems dead but with Mikael you never know.

Mikhail and Keamy know Danny. Is this Danny Pickett from Season 3, the cage tormentor of Sawyer?

The tomato from the garden “should have been dead”. Richard said that he saw all of Jack’s people “dead”, but clearly they are not. Or are they? Sayid says he feels dead, no emotion at all.

In room 23, Jin sees a subliminal message that “everything changes”. In season 2, Jin tells Hurley (in English no less), that everything is about to change.

What did you think of this episode (drop me a comment below). I thought it is was okay but not spectacular. Seeing Sun get angry in Korean was just a bit scary. Maybe she is the one who “has a temper” and not Jin.

In Ab Aeterno we reveal the many comparisons between Richard's island of Tenerife and Lost island like Atlantis, the Roman gods, and the New World. This is one of the best episodes of Lost and we got some great comments so please tune in.

Those LOST writers never cease to amaze me. After watching this week’s amazing episode Ab Aeterno I wondered why they picked the Canary Islands as Richard’s homeland. When I dug deeper and explored his particular Island residence, Tenerife, it became wonderfully clear why the LOST writers chose it.

Tenerife Island features a large volcanic mountain crater like LOST

Geography

Tenerife is a beautiful tropical island near Spain that features a large volcanic crater in the middle. In LOST we have been told by Olivia Goodspeed in Season 4 that there is a volcano on the island. If you look at the maps on this site you can see it.

Speaking of maps, Tenerife was called “The Island from Hell” or Isla del Infierno in Spanish in a map dating back to 1350. This week’s LOST episode’s theme was that the characters on LOST were trapped in Hell on the island.

History

Tenerife was settled around 200 BC by the pre-Hispanic people called Guanches who were discovered by the Roman colony Mauretania in 50 BC living in relics and caves since they had little in the way of technology. According to legends the islands in the chain were believed to be the peaks of Atlantis, the mystical place that was sunk under the ocean in a humongous cataclysm. In LOST, Jacob and/or MIB are known to shun technology and those two men may have visited or lived in a cave in a sheer cliff near the ocean. From the flash sideways we know the island is now underwater (and maybe only the volcanic mountain crater is still above water) probably due to the Incident or some other huge catastrophe.

“Adam” from a museum in Tenerife

People

Here is a person from the ancient days still preserved in a museum in Tenerife. It reminds me a bit of the Adam and Eve bodies found in the caves in LOST. El Silbo is a whistled language spoken in the Canary island and is is an indigenous language, whose existence was known since Roman times. On LOST we hear mysterious “whispers” on the island and the knife that Richard uses to try and kill Jacob (the same knife given to Sayid in Sundown) is of Roman origin. From Lostpedia: The Knife itself is a pugio, a military dagger used as a sidearm by Roman legionaries. On the sheath, it depicts the Roman she-wolf suckling Remus and Romulus.

From Wikipedia: Tanausu (died 1493) was the Guanche ruler of Aceró, on the island of La Palma (known to the original population as Benahoare), whose defeat by the Castilians marked the final conquest of that island. The island of Tenerife, conquered in 1495, was the last of the Canary Islands to fall under European control. His name has been translated as “The obstinate” or “He who has kidneys.” In LOST, John Locke was conned into giving his kidney to his father. He is an obstinate leader on the island, but maybe overruled by Jacob’s replacement.

History

In recent history, Tenerife is famous for the site of the deadliest airplane crash in aviation history. Two aircraft collided during takeoff killing 583 people in the fog on March 27th, 1977. [I am writing this on March 26th]. In LOST the characters realize they may have been part of a tragic plane crash that brought them to the island in 2004. Due to the magical properties of the island, some of the inhabitants are transported to 1977 when a hydrogen bomb is later detonated which may have caused the island to sink underwater and disappear.

The Ghost Island: In ancient history, there is a legend that the Canary Islands also contains a magical ghost island called San Borondon (Saint Brendan) that when sailors tried to reach its shores the island was suddenly covered in mist and disappeared. Some ancient sailors claimed to explore the island before it would disappear again into the sea. Here’s a video of Lost island when it disappeared. Click where it says “Watch on YouTube”

Ab Aeterno a latin phrase which means Since the beginning of time. (figuratively) Since a very long time ago.

In this episode we see how the Black Rock sailing ship and Richard Alpert end up on the island. I guess that people will either like this episode or really hate it. It gives us plenty of answers into Richard, Jacob and MIB’s motivations on the island, but little in the way of moving the story ahead for Jack and the rest of islanders. For me I liked the historical background and Richard’s search for absolution for the accidental death of the doctor and the loss of his beautiful wife Isabella. But this episode broke the pattern of mirroring the themes of Season 1. Well it had to since it was about a time long long before the plane crash that brought our present crew to the island.

Canary Islands – 1867

Richard is a farmer who rushes back to his modest home to find his wife Isabella dying. He loves her very much and promises to “save her” by bringing the doctor back. But he can’t save her and neither can the doctor, because the doc is a corrupt man who needs payment before he will even give Richard medicine (which probably wouldn’t have worked anyway). When the doctor refuses the modest sum Richard offers, he then gives him the “cross” necklace. The doctor says its worthless. This ties into a recurring theme of this episode – the theme of the truly faithful believers and those that reject or corrupt the faith.

Richard accidently kills the doctor, takes the medicine home but it’s too late – Isabella is dead. Richard is put in prison but he takes a Bible to read to help him learn English since he and his wife were planning to go to the New World to start a family. Richard asks the visiting priest for “God’s forgiveness”, but the priest says NO. He will not forgive for a killing even if it’s accidental. He says the only way to be forgiven is through penance (which the priest means paying to clear your name through good works). Now the priest is corrupt because in the Christian faith God has already forgiven the sins of each individual in the world by sending his Son to die in our place as a penance for our sins. Ajira 316 is a reference to the famous John 3:16 passage of the Bible.

The priest takes Richard’s bible and tells him he is to be hanged. The guards drag him out to die but the priest has taken money from a man representing Magnus Hanso the captain of the Black Rock ship who takes Richard because he can speak Engish since they are headed for the New World.

The ship is caught in a storm near Lost island causing a tidal wave to lift the ship high enough to smash into the great statue (of Taweret/Sobek) breaking it apart. The men believe the statue is El Diablo himself. The ship ends up in the middle of the island. Many of the crew are dead. One of the officers kills all the prisoners and his about to kill Albert when the Black Smoke monster comes. He kills everyone but Albert who he “scans”. Richard is trapped in his chains and can’t get out. One day his “dead wife” comes to visit him to tell him he is in hell. Evidently the Black Smoke is creating this apparition or it is a dream. She tells him they are both dead and in hell.

The MIB releases Albert on the one condition that he kills El Diablo to be free of hell and see his wife again. Albert goes to kill Jacob with the same dagger that Dogen (or maybe Ben) had. But he is stopped by Jacob who is not afraid to use his fists. He convinces Alpert that he is not dead and that Jacob is not the devil. He gives Alpert the job of advisor but can’t give him forgiveness for sins, or return his wife from the grave, so Alpert asks to live forever and Jacob grants his wish by touching his shoulder.

Jacob explains that he doesn’t want the job of protecting the island from the evil MIB, but he asks Richard to help him. He explains that “darkness and evil” are trapped on the island as a way of making it harmless, just as the dark wine is trapped in a bottle with a cork. He also tells him no one can enter Jacob’s house unless Jacob invites him first.

On the Island in 2007

Richard returns to where he buried the cross his wife gave him. He says he changed his mind and wants the MIB to allow him to be with his dead wife. Instead Hurley shows up and translates what his wife wants to tell him. She says she still loves him and he already has her because they are together even now.

Thoughts:

Isabella’s words are similar to what Penny wrote to Desmond:

Please don’t give up, Des. Because

all we really need to survive is one

person who truly loves us.

and you have her. I will wait for

you. Always. I love you, Pen

There were many allegories to heaven and hell in the episode. Jacob’s choice to enter the statue reflects God’s election for those to enter heaven. When Sawyer visited the Black Rock to kill Cooper, Cooper said they were in hell.

MIB wants to be set free from the island, but Jacob can’t let him leave, so MIB needs to kill Jacob or whoever takes his place.

Richard says they are all dead – even Jack. In a season 5 episode, Richard says he saw them all die (meaning Jack, Kate, Hurley and the others from 815). In this episode Richard thinks he is dead because he believes his dead wife (who is really just Smokey).

Richard’s memory of his dead wife’s love for him will keep him from going to join the MIB. But what information does Richard have that will help Illana and her group of candidates take the next step?

In Recon, we come up with all sorts of crazy theories about streams, mirrors, who's in the lock box, and what the brains from Ann Arbor want to do with Smokey. Includes episode recap, discussion and your comments.

I need to give credit where it’s due. I have recently started listening to the ODI podcast and the nice Lost podcasters there pointed out how often Lost has used mirrors on the show to tell us something about the characters.

So I thought I should look at Lostpedia to find some of the significant instances of the mirrors. Doing that research proved to be a little bit difficult. Luckily I could use Google search to search all of the transcripts. So here is what I found.

[Sun glances into the rear view mirror to look at Aaron sleeping in the back seat] I met a new friend for you in America. His name is Aaron. ..

Those above are from the transcripts. I also remember:

Jack shaving while using the mirror in hatch.

Kate looking in the mirror and crying when she sees the pregnancy test results after marrying Kevin.

And recently the season 6 episodes which feature reflections in mirrors and water. Mostly with Jack doing the reflecting (on his past life). And there was Kate remembering something about Aaron while changing clothes at the auto repair shop.